Introductions
by criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak
Summary: Lisbon was looking forward to a quiet morning in the office, but instead she's introduced to Patrick Jane, a man who claims to read minds and apparently wants to join her team. One-shot. My take of how Lisbon and Patrick first met.


**A/N: Hi everyone! So, this is my first FanFiction for "The Mentalist", I usually write for "Criminal Minds" but I recently feel in love (or obsession) with this show and Patrick and decided it was time to dabble a little into this world.**

**It's just an experimental one-shot I wrote about Patrick and Lisbon's first meeting. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Please review, criticism and comments are always welcome!**

_**Introductions:  
>How Patrick Jane met Teresa Lisbon<strong>_

The everyday bustle of the CBI statehouse greeted Agent Lisbon as she stepped off the elevator and made her way to the bullpen. The smell of freshly made, bitter coffee wafted toward her from the open break room and she smiled in spite of herself. Mornings like this were rare, easy. Often times she'd find herself woken by call at four in the morning telling her that the Attorney General wanted CBI on some gruesome, public murder case, but then there were the few and far between days when she could show up at work, have a cup of coffee and focus on finishing her reports before anything ultimately bad happened.

And God knows there had been enough bad happening lately. With the ever mounting public fear of Red John, Minelli was pushing her and her team to work harder than ever to find the serial killer. It wasn't like she wasn't trying, but there really never seemed to be much to go on. Red John was smart. He left no fingerprints, no trace of hair, nothing that could be useful to finding out exactly who he was. She sometimes found herself sincerely wishing that the AG hadn't decided Red John was a case worthy of their department, though she knew it was selfish to think that way.

Her team hadn't had the case more than a few months; they'd gotten the evidence from local police and a few Federal investigations and began to compile their own theories, thoughts and profiles. Cho and Rigsby had already exhausted every lead they had, not that they'd really had many. She felt that they were running into a dead end and it made her feel powerless. How was she expected to catch Red John when it seemed more often than not he was a ghost? And a highly intelligent, albeit, narcissistic and sadistic, ghost at that.

She had barely taken a seat at her desk, still reveling in the quite hustle in the office, when Minelli came in and the look on his face made her heart sink. There went her morning, right there. She started to stand, expecting him to begin briefing her on some huge political murder scandal or a tragic case of a wealthy family dysfunction gone wrong, but found herself nearly speechless when a man stepped in behind Minelli.

He looked around the space with curiosity and astuteness that surprised Lisbon. He seemed to be drinking in every little detail rapidly before he turned his eyes toward her and smiled a smile that made her want to smile back; it was so full of life and humor. But underneath the smile, his blue eyes were keenly sizing her up, she could tell, and hidden behind that was something else, something darker that she couldn't quite place.

The most infuriating thing about the man was the fact that she was certain that she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't quite pin down where.

Minelli cleared his throat and looked between the two of them before speaking. "Agent Lisbon, this is Mr. Patrick Jane."

Lisbon held out her hand and the man took it quickly, offering her another smile. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Jane, um…" she looked toward Minelli again, her brows furrowing slightly as she silently asked what he was doing in her office and why she was meeting him in the first place.

"Mr. Jane here wants to work as a consultant."

"A consultant? What, you mean for my team?" Lisbon frowned, eyeing the man again, more critically this time. What on earth could he offer to her team?

It was Jane who answered, "Yes, for your team, Agent Lisbon. I asked for your team specifically."

She frowned, "Wh- I don't understand. I don't need a consultant; we're doing fine on our own –"

"Mr. Jane is a… uh, what did you call it?" he frowned, turning to look at Jane again.

A slow smirk slid across the man's face and he never turned his gaze away from Lisbon. "I read minds."

"Read minds?" Lisbon snorted before she could stop herself. "You're saying you're psychic?"

"No." Jane shook his head quickly, still smiling at her. "There's no such thing as psychics, but nevertheless, I can tell what you're thinking. What most anyone is thinking really."

Lisbon blinked, frowning, "Is this guy for real?"

"You take your job very seriously, don't you, Agent Lisbon?"

"I –"

"And of course, you follow the rules strictly and being the leader of your team, you are stringent about those rules. You dedicate most of your time to working and thus have little time for a social life. You don't date much because after too many bad dates to count, you've decided that men are a waste of your time, time that you could and should be devoting to your career and saving lives. You were probably the oldest child in your family, am I correct? And that gives you a sense of paternal affection and authority, along with responsibility, towards the members of your team. You used to go out dancing and drinking with friends in your younger years, but once you joined the CBI you came to the decision that they were too childish and you had more important things to worry about, yes? You don't keep in close contact with your family, something you regret but are too scared to rectify –"

"Excuse me?" Lisbon cut the man off, frowning at him.

He stopped, but there was a somewhat smug look on his face as he did. Minelli sighed and gave her an apologetic look. "Hear me out, Lisbon, he's good at what he does and he doesn't seem to take no for an answer."

Lisbon's lips became a thin line as she stared at the blond man in front of her desk.

"Admit it, you're impressed." Jane said, still smiling. "And with every reason. I used to be a psychic, well, pretended to be a psychic, and I made a good living doing so because I am good at it."

"Good at conning people, you mean?"

"Good at reading people." Jane countered immediately. "And I want to work with you and your team. I want to help you. Believe me, I can help you. And you know it."

She hated to admit it, but he did have a point. He certainly was very good at whatever it was that he did, but in less than five minutes, he'd managed to piss her off like no one had in years. "Why me? Why my team?"

The smile left Jane's face, but his eyes never left hers. "Because you have the Red John case." He told her.

She frowned, "Red John? What does Red John have to do with anything?"

His unwavering blue eyes stared her down and she saw, for the briefest moment, a flicker of bitter self-hatred and guilt. "He murdered my wife and daughter." He said.

Lisbon's demeanor instantly changed and she started to apologize for asking, knowing that it couldn't be easy for him to talk about something like that, but he continued without pausing to let her speak.

"I want him. I want him caught, I want him stopped and I want to help you stop him." There was a dark edge that replaced the slightly light-hearted, arrogant tone he'd had before and she could practically see the pain that he was in.

Her eyes met Minelli's and he nodded slowly toward her. She was turning over what Jane had said in her mind and it had finally occurred to her where she had seen him before. On television a few years back, practicing as a psychic. And of course, she'd seen the face again in a copy of a family photo that was in the Red John case file. When his family had been murdered, she hadn't been handling the case, a local unit had.

"I…" she hesitated. "I'm not sure about this." She said, frowning at Jane. "Do you even have any experience with law enforcement."

He laughed, but there was a bit of a bitter tinge to it that wasn't lost to her. "Nothing other than a few cases I worked with police as a 'psychic'," he admitted. "But I'm a fast learner. Trust me, you'll hardly even know I'm there."

She eyed the man up and down again, having a hard time believing him. Maybe he would be a good asset to her team, but there was something about him that she felt could be dangerous, unworkable. A dark flash in his eyes and then it was gone, but she was certain there was something. But looking into his eyes now she couldn't help but say exactly what he wanted to hear. He seemed almost desperate to get this job, and she honestly couldn't come up with a solid reason – other than the fact that she certainly didn't _need _a consultant – to say no to Virgil.

"Alright, fine." She gave in. "I guess it couldn't hurt."

Jane grinned again and Minelli looked relived, "Thankyou, Lisbon."

"You won't regret it," Jane said, that infectious smile back in place again. "I can assure you, by the end of the week you'll wonder how you ever went without me."

She raised a brow, but shook her head. She was going to regret this, she knew. "Yeah, fine." She said, walking around her desk, "Let me introduce you to the team, Mr. Jane. And please, if you can, don't do your little mind-reading trick on them as soon as you meet them. You don't want to offend your new co-workers, do you?"

Jane chuckled, "Offend them? Who could ever find me offensive?"

Lisbon had a feeling it was going to be a long day, she could already feel a headache coming on as she led the man out to the bullpen to meet Cho and Rigsby. Her coffee sat, cold and neglected, on her desk, the easy morning that she'd so hoped to have shattered, only this time by a man who, whether she knew it or not, was going to change a lot of things for her team. Not the least of them, the way she looked at her job and her life.

_**~THE END~**_

**A/N 2: So, I hope I got everyone in character and did them justice (especially Patrick and Lisbon)**

**This was just a short, experimental one-shot to see if I could get the characters down right, I hope you guys enjoyed it!**

**Please let me know what you think, I adore feedback of any kind, constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome ;)**

**Don't forget to review! **


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